Thursday, March 9, 2017

Blog Tour: Scarred by Mia Kerick #Excerpt #Review #Giveaway

From bestselling author Mia Kerick comes a New Adult Gay Romance that
will keep you up reading all night!

Matthew North waited ten years to heal from the devastating wounds
inflicted by the man who abducted and abused him as a child. Living reclusively
on a tropical island—with no company but his four cats—he merely avoids the
lingering pain.

Wearing twisted ropes of mutilated skin on his back, Matt struggles with
a profound hindrance—the scars that deaden his soul. However, on the night he
meets lively Vedie Wilson, a local restaurant busboy who expresses his gender
by wearing lipgloss and eyeliner along
with his three-day beard, things change.

Gradually, Vedie and Mateo unite in friendship. Through a series of
awkward encounters, the pair learns each other’s secrets. Vedie learns that an
angelic face can front for a scarred soul. Matthew learns that the line between
one’s masculine and feminine sides is blurred. Can they embrace the painful
stories behind each other’s scars if they’re to find everlasting love? Or will
surrendered love come to be yet another blemish on their souls?

This book hit all the emotional buttons for me. From the very beginning I felt engulfed by all of it. The characters are so beautiful. Matt and Vedie have a past. Their past is the equivalent of many of our nightmares. It's hard to put it into words and I don't want to spoil anything about it.

Separate these characters are stunning but together they shine. As horrific as their pasts are -and they are really bad- both characters carry it with them and they own it. The insight into their thoughts was truly captivating. There were times I found myself stopping to reflect on something Vedie or Matt said. Even rereading parts because it was like literary silk.

There are trigger. You should heed them too. Rape and abuse both physical and mental. But from the ashes of a crumbled past both Vedie and Matt rise. Their love is beautiful to read. I felt honored to see life through their eyes. I learned from them.

There is levity in this story. I swear. Matt and Vedie have really wonderful moments. So sweet and real that you cry for their happiness. So yeah, you cry for them when they are happy, sad, scared, funny.... It's a roller coaster. But it's worth it!

Excerpt

Matt

Seeing this kid cry slices easily through
my thick skin and I don’t like it one bit. There’s a heart somewhere under all
of the armor I wear, and I like to keep it under wraps. But what’s most
fucked-up about this situation is that less than two hours ago we were complete
strangers not exactly enjoying a friendly interaction.

When he came to my table, he’d asked,
“Yo, what you drinkin’, man?” I guess I must have looked at him cross-eyed
because I didn’t recognize him as a regular worker at The Only Tiki Hut on Placida Island. And I should know; I’ve eaten
dinner here several nights a week for the past decade. He got right on my case.
“What’s your friggin’ problem? I
asked you real nice, seein’ as it’s my job and shit!”

It was as if he’d read my mind when he
sized up my expression, which made me shiver because nobody knows what I’m thinking, and I like it that way. “Just
water,” I’d told him and then I stared out over the beach, craning my neck like
I was watching for somebody even though there’s never been anybody for me to
watch for.

He hadn’t liked being ignored, so he’d
started to play the smart-ass, a part that he’s very good at. “Sorry, big dawg,
the lady’s a no-show. You gonna have to fill your bed with somebody new
tonight, looks like.” He actually waggled his eyebrows.

“Guess today’s not my lucky day, because
I’m planning to sleep alone,” I told him and meant it.

“It can
be your lucky day if you play your cards right, my man.” He let go of the tray
with one hand, dropped his palm onto my shoulder, and squeezed. “You ain’t
gotta be lonely tonight if you don’t—what the fuck, man!”

“I get it, big dawg, so chill.” The kid pulled back his hand and released a
long sigh, like he knew he’d broken one of his own rules by grabbing me. “I’ll
get my dumbass hand offa your badass shoulder, if you sit your ass back down on that chair.” And after another sigh, he said,
“Not gonna push the issue, man. Just offerin’ you some company on a long, hot,
lonely night.”

About the Author

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—one in law school,
another in dance school, a third in school at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College,
and her lone son still in high school. (Mia is a major fan of the learning
process!) She writes LGBTQ romance when not editing National Honor Society
essays, offering opinions on college and law school applications, helping to
create dance bios, and reviewing English papers. Her husband of twenty-three
years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia
about this, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people
and their relationships. She has a great affinity for the tortured hero. There
is, at minimum, one of these in each book. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound
notebooks with tales of said tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly
resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her
mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to CoolDudes Publishing, Dreamspinner
Press, Harmony Ink Press, and Evernight Publishing for providing her with
alternate places to stash her stories.

A social liberal, Mia cheers for
each and every victory made in the name of human rights. Her only major regret:
never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life
consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of
Technology.